Friday, September 9, 2011

Episode 57 Coming WEDNESDAY SEPT. 14!!!

I know that, as of this writing, you still cannot see the 25 screwattack-exclusive episodes of "The Game OverThinker" on ScrewAttack's new site. I am sorry about that, it's being worked on and will hopefully be fixed by early next week. For now... GOOD NEWS! Episode 57, the much-demanded "Supreme Court" episode, will (if all goes correctly) premiere on Wednesday, September 14th. So keep an eye out for it.

ALSO! If you haven't yet taken a look at ScrewAttack's new site, you should - it's quite excellent. They're also offering something called an "Advantage" subcription, whereby users can sign up to not only get an ad-free version of the site but ALSO see new episodes of shows they've selected as well-liked faves. So, if there are any Advantage members (or prospective members) who're also OverThinker fans... it's REALLY good for BOTH of us (yes, this is NAKED self-promotion) if you make this show one of your "likes."

17 comments:

Judging by your previous statements about how much you hate FPS games in general and COD specifically, and your insatiable lust for bad 80's sidescrollers, am I right in presuming this episode is some kind of lengthy polemic against FPS games not-so-subtly (or logically, for that matter) implying they're somehow responsible for the Norway massacre (because no one ever committed crime before Doom came out!) or otherwise influencing negatively the Supreme Court's and government in general's longstanding anti-gaming stance. I ask because I'm a fan of FPS games (shock, horror...must be a jock!) and I'd simply like to defend my preferred entertainment genre by responding preemptively with an "Uh, how about NO!"

...So... what, were you too busy deciding which identical game to buy involving gun-shooting, a two-dimensional main character with a diologue of less than 100 words, brown/grey/gritty levels, and a half dozen idiots abusing their micropphones with bad music/swearing/innuendo they don't understand every time we heard one of Bob's 'Games aren't responsible for that shit', or are you just being an assumptive dipshit to prove Bob right about all FPS players?

Yeah, Bob's been flogging that damned dead horse of his for a while now, and yes, it's starting to stink, and yes I'm sure alot of us are getting sick of all his old-school games BS. But to pick at that at THIS point is actually somehow MORE annoying, because now YOU'RE beating around a fucking skeleton of a horse like a goddamn xylophone.

Bob has gone on record countless times about how much he hates FPS games, he even said in an interview he mainly harps on the issue to troll FPS fans. And frankly considering he constantly refers to multi-player gamers as criminals and idiots, and said as much in many of his videos, I have to ask: did you really think that argument, as vapid and insulting as it is, would stand? Or was that just a chance to take a cheap potshot at what you consider to be your enemy? Your defense of him only shows how ignorant you are about the facts, and how sycophantic you are towards this bigoted nobody.

As for FPS games being identical, yeah I'm sure that DX: Human Revolution, Borderlands, MW2, Crysis 2 and Duke Nukem 3D are all COMPLETELY the same...oh wait, they're not. Thanks for showing you have no idea what you're talking about, someone may have confused your words for some intelligent comments.

But really, I am beating a dead horse: I know I can never convince you and your ilk that I'm anything but scum because MY games happen to have replaced YOUR favorite game genre, and Bob is one-half trolling for hits and one-half backwards thinking zealot so he'll never change. But you know what, if Bob can beat a dead horse and get nothing but four pages of the same sycophantic praise, then I can offer a response. Don't like it? Too bad.

It's not 1985 anymore. No one cares how awesome your childhood was. I had a great childhood too, but that has long since been over. So get down of your cross and use the wood to build a bridge so you can get over yourself.

How many of those are "identical"? Out of the game with teleporter guns, the game with psychic powers, the game built around cloaking, the game where you hunt dinosaurs, the game where you play as a cyborg killing machine, the game where you fight Satan, the game set during WWIII, and the game based around Libertarian propaganda, how many are stereotypical "brown grey shooter in the desert"? If the answer is NONE OF THEM, you lose the internet forever.

See, here's the thing. I never said that I myself dislike FPS games. Unlike the cretins of YOUR ilk, I simply have a higher standard for the games I buy. At sixty dollars a pop, I can't afford not to be.

A few manage to stand out somewhat, and even fewer really hit it out of the park. But hey, since we're having fun listing FPS games, why don't we have a little... fun, with it?

Let's start with your top hitters there-

BioshockPortals 1 & 2Team Fortress 2Half-Life

These are indeed some great games. I greatly enjoyed Bioshock, but never got to play the others. But then, these were primarily computer games as it were so I coudln't obtain them anyways. But the big problem with these is that EVERYONE refferences them, and has been for years. They're not viable enough on their own with the staggering amount of FPS games being released.

Duke Nukem 3DDoom

...Are you serious? You're going to refference two of the FIRST FPS games EVER? You can't even buy those anymore. Hell, you can't even buy the OPERATING SYSTEMS for them anymoe! I know, I've tried. My Duke 3D CD will never be used again.

HaloMW2

I won't even dignify those two with an answer. Honestly, I just don't think I can insult low enough to give them what they deserve.

Crysis 2

Hey now, this one belongs on a fancy shelf... right next to Duke Nukem Forever and Bulletstorm... >.<

BorderlandsFar CryQuake

I might give those to you, I know my friend's played one of them and loved it... but then, he's always had really shitty taste in things, so I may be wrong... oh well.

DX Human Revolution

...The Wannabe-Ghost-in-the-Shell game that's been out less than a couple days? Really? What are you smoking now? Hell, I doubt you've even beaten the first couple of levels, and if you HAVE then I'd be pretty upset in your shoes. I like my games to last.

Turok Dinosaur Hunter

Now, I have to admit that I laughed for some time on this one. You mean to say you actually bought that piece of shit? You can STILL find that damned thing in a Gamestop PS2 bargain selve for like four bucks! Now I KNOW you're fucking with me.

I might've missed one, but I had no idea what it was. In any case, I'm not on Bob's side on this one. Hell, I wasn't even BORN until 87 for crying out loud, and I was a Sega kid who embraced the 3D gaming world redily and hated arcades for being inconvienent. I couldn't disagree more with the man sometimes.

But I'll admit he, and MOST of the internet, has a really good point when it comes to FPS games. I LIKE FPS games, but I like them to be different, unique, and original. AND, I like my FPS games to be a fucking GAME first, and an Online-Capable game SECOND.

Personally, I hate you FPS people as much as I hate Retro-Gamers like Bob. Especially since all you do is bicker at each other.

I think Bob's in the right by saying the FPS is "the most played-out, self-limiting, creatively-stifling game genre (other than sports Sims)".

Personally I like the Tycoon style Sims. With these games your actually rewarded for doing well, punished for doing badly and in certain ones like "The Movies" your NEVER given the same experience twice.

I'd like to see Bob do a show on Sim games and their impact on the industry.

For all the talk of FPS games being identical, very few of them are. There are more games out there now like Doom (Halo, Crysis, Half-Life, Borderlands) where you fight aliens then COD-based games and most COD games were taking place IN WORLD WAR 2.

None of these games are similar outside of the basic, nebulous genre (which, mind you, also includes Oblivion and Mirror's Edge--neither of which involves guns at all).

No one wants to just admit that gaming is headed in a direction that a lot of people are uncomfortable with. Hell I don't even LIKE ONLINE GAMES nor do I play them regularly, I'm just sick of this same argument being used as a crutch to keep from admitting the truth:

Gaming is going one way, some of us (me too, once) don't appreciate that. But THAT'S JUST TOO BAD.

If I had my way, we'd still be playing side scrolling beat 'em ups and shumps, because that's my favorite two genres ever. However, I realize that that is not the case, that future games are going to be cloud-centric and likely 3D-centric too as the technologies become more common, that third-person RPGs like Mass Effect are starting to dominate that genre, and that online games are becoming the standard, the norm, not the exception. Maybe I do have problems with this...lord knows I miss Final Fight and Streets of Rage dearly....but that's too damn bad for me. My feelings are irrelevant, and I'm sick of people using "all these games are the same!" and "jocks r takin' our gameses! as some catch-all critique to keep from admitting they, personally, just feel left behind.

I felt left behind once too (don't get me started on how I felt when the we transitioned from 2D sprites to polygons) but I got over it. I didn't make up facetious arguments to try and hide my feeling of displeasure with the way things were going.

I would just like to point out that the portal games are First person Puzzle games. not shooters. yes there is a gun you shoot to make portals. that's really the only shooter element about it. the rest of the game is figuring out "tests" that is put in front of you

well, it's been awhile since Bob had people resorting to juvenile insults because of his criticisms of the FPS genre, but I never expected it over just a snippet from an episode made nearly a year ago.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what the episode is as the decision is a monumental step for the medium...one I'm not sure we entirely DESERVED to have in our favor

Hey Bob, You might want to consider which companies you let run ads. Currently Netflix is using an ad featuring a scene from "The Expendables". A film you tore to hell for it's lack of worthwhile content.

Just a thought, but maybe you should work a little harder on who you let run ads on your site.

How am I resorting to juvenile insults? Please show me precisely where I made a juvenile insult or remark to anyone, because so far I am the only one getting called names here. Or am I right in thinking that's a cop out to keep from making a coherent rebuttal?

And if so, would you kindly NOT make up lies about me from now on and just admit that. I don't appreciate people accusing me of things I didn't do.

And by the way I'm still waiting for someone to point out the similarities between Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2.

Because as you all know, FPS games are all identical. So clearly there must be many, many similarities. Unless that's complete BS...

PS:I'm going to issue a challenge to anyone willing to take it. If this video contains ZERO pot shots taken at modern gaming, and/or ZERO references to the "good old days" of Bob's childhood OR retro nostalgia, I will apologize for assuming beforehand that it would. If it does, I want someone to openly admit that I was in fact correct the entire time. Is anyone willing to take a lady up on her offer? Who here REALLY has faith in Bob Chipman? One person accepts, and I'll go through with it either way, swear on my life.

I will apologize publicly for assuming otherwise. Seriously, no bullshit. And if not, anyone who accepts this will simply say three words, no more no less: "you were right". No context, no rebuttal, no further words necessary.

In answer to your question, my general "point" this time around (without giving away the store, as it were) is more along the lines that, since gamers have now "won" the legal side of the violence argument at the highest possible level, it is incumbent upon us to adopt a less reflexively defensive stance when stuff like Brevik (insanely) reffering to COD:MW as a "training simulator" comes up; i.e. that MAYBE it's time for gamer-culture in general and military-FPS-culture in particular to start doing more to step up and do more to distance itself from "angry young gun-nut" culture.

Meaning what, precisely? Military nerds like me? Is that the enemy now.

Instead of gaming distancing itself from mil-nerds, why not just distance ourselves from THAT ONE GUY, who did something illegal. I mean if someone killed 90 people and then claimed he did it because of his love of New Super Mario Wii would you ask for Nintendo to distance itself from fanboys?

Look Bob, you're clearly not stupid, despite the mishmash caricature of internet reviewers you play on these videos (like AVGN+Angry Joe+Phelous) so I'm just going to put this bluntly and try honestly to not be insulting:

I get it, ok. Judging by some comments made here, and on your YouTube videos, even your most diehard fans get it. You like old games. You think new games are taking the fun out of it. You hate FPS games and sports games. You think some jock from high school 20 years ago is personally mocking you with the popularity of online gaming and Madden (ok sorry, mean joke, but I'm only half-kidding).

I get it. But here's the thing--a lot of people, people like me, who may otherwise agree with you, feel that we have been singled out by you as scapegoats for some nebulous issues you have with modernity in general, modern trends in gaming in particular.

And stuff like that American Bob video where you basically say it's funny or somehow gratifying to see "alpha males" get laid off so we can all go be nerds on the coast, that doesn't help.

Whatever enemy you think you're fighting, I'm not it. People who play online games, who you openly deride as criminals and malcontents, they sure aren't. Those "alpha males" who can't feed their families, the "redneck Robes Pierres", who aren't going to be marching through the streets just starving to death (with their families and children) in it if your dream future comes to pass, they're not the enemy either.

Whatever part of your childhood you want back, or high school injustice are trying to avenge, or personal demons to excise or whatever, we're not it.

And you can take all this as an insult or whatever, and maybe I am an "angry gun-nut" because my knowledge of military tech goes beyond "that end shoots pow-pow!" but really, just give it a rest. Find someone, anyone, else to mock and deride and pick on and, yes, BULLY because some of us are tired of getting a proverbial wedgie every time the mood strikes you.

Much as I'm amused by the dime-store psychoanalysis of me that keeps cropping up on the tubes (keep up the copypasta, kiddies - deadhorse and busystreet need the traffic!) please rest assured that I am NOT, in fact, talking about you or other "military nerds;" and frankly you seem sharp enough to already know that.

I'm talking about the yee-haw Jr. Militia culture. I'm talking about "from my COLD DEAD HANDS!!!1!!" I'm talking about assholes whose big fantasy is 'stop the gubmint!' reactionary spree-killing like we saw in Oslo; and that I think it's time for gamers to start devoting a little less time saying "DON'T BLAME US FOR THAT!!!" after the fact and more time saying "those guys are NOT us and are NOT welcome here!" BEFORE the fact.

About Me

Bob is a part-time independent filmmaker, part-time amateur film critic and full time Movie Geek. He is heterosexual, a pisces, and a severely lapsed Catholic. He is a tireless enemy of censorship, considers his personal politics "Libertine" and enjoys acting as a full time irritant to overly serious people of ALL political stripes.